Top picks from this guide
#1
Padang Bai, the harbour Ubud uses
The only harbour that makes sense from Ubud. Direct services reach Gili Trawangan in about 1h30, and the drive east is the shortest of any Bali base. Departures cluster in an 08:00–09:00 wave with an early-afternoon one behind it — Eka Jaya at 09:00, 10:30 and 13:30, Wahana Gili Ocean at 09:00 and 14:00.
#2
The drive from Ubud to the coast
Operators print one hour. Plan 1h15–2h, and use 2h if you have a named boat to catch. The climb out of Ubud and the coastal bypass both clog in the 07:00–09:30 morning wave, which is exactly when the boats sail. Roadworks, rain and ceremony closures push it further with no warning.
#3
The shuttle included in the ticket
Most Padang Bai operators include a shuttle from Ubud Central, and if you are inside that zone it is comfortably the cheapest way to reach the harbour. It is a collection loop around other guests' hotels, so budget 1h30–2h30 rather than the raw drive time.
#4
The out-of-zone surcharge
Ubud sprawls and the free zone is small. Published August 2026: Eka Jaya IDR 385,000 per minivan (4–6 seats) from Ubud, Tegalalang or Pejeng; Gili Getaway IDR 275,000 per private car; generic agent guidance IDR 150,000 per person or IDR 250,000–400,000 per car. Cash to the driver on the day.
#5
The Cocomart meeting point
The published workaround for out-of-zone guests: get yourself to the Cocomart supermarket on Jl. Raya Pengosekan and join the shuttle there. A short taxi across town is usually cheaper than the surcharge. It only works if you can stand there with luggage at 06:30, which not every villa lane allows.
#6
Serangan and Sanur, the southern harbours
Both work; neither suits Ubud. Serangan crossings run 2h15–2h30, or 2.5–3.5h when the boat calls at Lembongan, Penida or Gili Gede. Sanur is 2h45–3h out and notably longer back, 3h15–4h15. From Ubud you would drive away from the short boat to sit longer on the water.
#7
Amed is closed
Historically the shortest crossing from north and east Bali, Amed has been closed since a regulation required a proper jetty for embarkation, and no reopening date has been announced. Travellers from Amed and Tulamben are routed to Padang Bai instead, roughly 45 minutes away by road.
The short answer: Padang Bai, and leave at dawn
There is no boat to the Gili Islands from Ubud, and there never will be — Ubud sits inland in the hills and every fast boat to the Gilis leaves from a harbour on the coast. From Ubud the right harbour is Padang Bai, about 38 km east. The drive is 1h15–2h, the direct crossing to Gili Trawangan and Gili Air is about 1h30, and door to door you should plan 4–5 hours. In practice that means a hotel pickup at 06:30–07:00 to make the 08:00–09:00 departure wave. The pickup time is the number to plan your morning around, not the sailing time.
Padang Bai is also why Ubud has the easiest Gili journey of any Bali base: short drive, short boat. Every other base has to give up one or the other. We sell fast boat tickets with hotel pickup from $15 and a Gili overnight getaway from $70, booked on WhatsApp with no prepayment. Those two are our own fixed USD prices — unlike the rupiah figures further down, which move.
The drive east, and why the published times are wrong
Every operator page on this route publishes the free-flow drive time, and those figures run 40–60% short of reality. "Only a one-hour drive to Padang Bai" is a real sentence on real booking sites; one route planner will quote you 32 minutes. Neither survives a 07:00 departure. The pinch points are the climb out of Ubud and Jl. Prof. Dr. Ida Bagus Mantra, the coastal bypass — both fill during the 07:00–09:30 morning wave, which is precisely when the boats leave. Roadworks on the bypass, rain, and temple ceremonies that close local roads without notice all add to it.
So: 1h15–2h is the planning range and 2h is what you use when a specific boat is booked. A shared shuttle is slower again, 1h30–2h30, because the van collects other guests around Ubud before it turns east. If you want the car to yourself, a private car with driver from $59 per car covers the run comfortably — though for a plain harbour transfer that is more car than most people need, and we would rather say so. Our airport to Ubud transfer guide covers the same roads in the other direction.
What it costs: boat, transfer, harbour fee
Fast boat fares from Bali to the Gilis ran IDR 330,000–790,000 one way when we checked in August 2026, with most tickets landing between IDR 400,000 and IDR 550,000 and returns around IDR 950,000. Named Padang Bai figures from that same check: IDR 400,600 on one listing, IDR 450,000 on several, IDR 685,000 for Eka Jaya, IDR 790,000 for Gili Gili Fast Boat. Price moves with operator, season, booking lead time and channel, so treat any single figure as a starting point.
We quote rupiah deliberately. The rupiah sat near IDR 17,800 to the dollar in August 2026, which puts that band at roughly USD 22–31 — but most travel pages still convert at 15,000–16,000, so their dollar figures read about a fifth low. Budget the whole journey in these parts:
- Fast boat ticket, IDR 400,000–550,000 one way is the typical band, checked August 2026 — much the biggest line
- Out-of-zone Ubud pickup, IDR 275,000–385,000 per vehicle, paid in cash to the driver on the day, only if your villa falls outside the free zone
- A harbour fee at Padang Bai, cash, sometimes inside the ticket and sometimes collected on the spot — no operator publishes the amount, so carry small notes rather than a card
- Around IDR 35,000 for the beach shuttle at Gili Meno, where boats moor offshore, if that is your island
Is pickup from your Ubud villa included?
Most Padang Bai operators do include a shuttle, and the standard wording is a free transfer from popular tourist areas "including Ubud Central". Everything hinges on that last word. Ubud Central is a genuinely small polygon, and the agents admit it themselves: many Ubud hotels and resorts sit outside the core pickup zone, which makes it a fairly limited region. Ubud sprawls up ridges and down river valleys, and the places people actually book are often on the wrong side of the line:
Out of zone you have two published options: pay the surcharge — IDR 385,000 per minivan for Ubud, Tegalalang or Pejeng on Eka Jaya's August 2026 table, IDR 275,000 per private car on Gili Getaway's — or make your own way to the central collection point, which operators name as the Cocomart supermarket on Jl. Raya Pengosekan. Watch which harbour you are buying, though: Gili Getaway's cheaper Ubud fee ends at Serangan in the south, so you save on the transfer and hand it back several times over on the water.
One thing nobody can tell you cleanly is whether a given operator's Ubud shuttle is free or charged. Two agent pages carrying the same Eka Jaya tariff describe the same service in opposite terms — one calls it complimentary, the other says the free shuttle is suspended — while both print the identical IDR 385,000. Inclusion varies by operator and booking channel, so ask in writing before you pay. And if you are two people in central Ubud, the shuttle inside the ticket is the cheapest way to Padang Bai and you should simply use it; do not pay us for that leg. Our Gili fast boat guide compares the operators and harbours in more depth.
- Penestanan and Sayan, west across the Campuhan ridge
- Kedewatan and Payangan, north up the Ayung valley
- Pengosekan and Nyuh Kuning, immediately south of the centre
- Tegalalang, north, and priced as its own zone by at least one operator
Why a Gili day trip from Ubud does not work
Ubud is the only Bali base where a Gili day trip is even arithmetically possible, and it is still not worth doing. The earliest Padang Bai departure is 08:00, which means a pickup at 06:00–06:30 and arrival on Gili Trawangan around 09:30–10:00. The last boat back to Padang Bai leaves Gili T at about 15:15, with a few operators running to 15:30–16:00; from Gili Air it is around 15:35. That puts you back at Padang Bai at 16:45–17:30 and in Ubud somewhere between 18:30 and 20:00, on the worst traffic of the day. The version that does work, starting from Padang Bai or Candidasa, is in our Gili Islands day trip from Bali.
Add it up and it is roughly fourteen hours out for four or five usable hours on an island whose entire appeal is that nothing is urgent. You spend more of the day moving than sitting still, and you do the return crossing tired. Every source we read on this route reaches the same conclusion: go for one night. Our Gili overnight getaway from $70 exists because of exactly that arithmetic.
If what you actually want is an island day and you are based in Ubud, Nusa Penida from $75 is the honest alternative — nearer harbour, shorter crossing, home for dinner. And from Canggu or Uluwatu the Gili day trip is not merely long but impossible: the Serangan boats turn around within the hour, which we set out in our Gili from Canggu guide.
The days the boats do not sail
December to February is peak cancellation season on the Bali–Gili crossing, and cancellations arrive in multi-day blocks rather than single sailings. In January 2026 the forecast ran 2.5–6.0 m across the Bali–Lombok–Gili routes and 72 fast boats had 80–90 trips cancelled. This crossing sits in open water and is far more swell-sensitive than the Nusa Penida runs. If you travel in that window, build a buffer day into the itinerary, and never schedule a Gili return for the same day as an international flight out of Denpasar.
Nyepi shuts the whole chain down for 24 hours: ferries suspended, the airport closed, no vehicles on the road and therefore no hotel pickup either. The next one is Monday 8 March 2027, and the days either side compress around it. Ordinary temple ceremonies close local roads unannounced all year, which is the quiet reason Bali drive times are unpredictable rather than merely long. If the sea closes the route entirely, the flight and the public ferry are the fallbacks — our Bali to Lombok transport guide covers both.
FAQ
How do I get to Gili Air from Ubud?
Car east to Padang Bai, then a fast boat. The drive is 38 km and takes 1h15–2h, and the crossing is about 1h30 to Gili Trawangan and Gili Air on a direct service. There is no boat from Ubud itself — it is inland. Plan 4–5 hours door to door and a pickup at 06:30–07:00 for the 08:00–09:00 departures.
What is the best way to get to Gili Air from Ubud?
A Padang Bai fast boat with the transfer arranged in advance. Padang Bai gives Ubud the shortest drive and the shortest crossing at once, which no other Bali base gets. If you are in central Ubud, the shuttle included in most operators' tickets is the cheapest way to the harbour and there is no reason to pay for a separate car.
How much is the ferry to Gili Trawangan from Ubud?
Fast boat fares ran IDR 330,000–790,000 one way when we checked in August 2026, most commonly IDR 400,000–550,000, with returns near IDR 950,000. Padang Bai listings that month included IDR 400,600, IDR 450,000, IDR 685,000 for Eka Jaya and IDR 790,000 for Gili Gili Fast Boat. Add a small cash harbour fee whose amount no operator publishes.
Is hotel pickup from Ubud included in a fast boat ticket?
Usually only from Ubud Central, which is a small zone. Penestanan, Sayan, Kedewatan, Payangan, Pengosekan, Nyuh Kuning and Tegalalang commonly fall outside it. Out of zone, expect IDR 275,000–385,000 per vehicle in cash on the day, or make your own way to the Cocomart collection point on Jl. Raya Pengosekan. Confirm inclusion in writing at booking — operators word it inconsistently.
Can I do a Gili Islands day trip from Ubud?
Technically yes, and we would talk you out of it. Pickup at 06:00–06:30 for the 08:00 boat gets you to Gili Trawangan by 09:30–10:00; the last return leaves around 15:15, putting you back in Ubud at 18:30–20:00. That is about fourteen hours for four or five on the island. One night makes far more sense, or take Nusa Penida as a day instead.
Should I go via Sanur or Serangan instead of Padang Bai?
Not from Ubud. Serangan crossings run 2h15–2h30, or 2.5–3.5h if the boat calls at Lembongan, Penida or Gili Gede, and Sanur is 2h45–3h out and 3h15–4h15 back. Those harbours suit guests already in South Bali. From Ubud you would drive away from the short boat to spend longer at sea. Amed, once the shortest crossing, is closed with no reopening date.
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